Humble Humphries feeling good and firing

Adelaide 36ers centre Isaac Humphries has put his strong early season form down to hard work and having a good team around him.

Humphries is averaging 18.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in his three games so far, playing a key role as the Sixers started the season 3-0 for the first time in 25 years.

He was again influential in Thursday night’s win over Tasmania, with 24 points, five rebounds and two assists in what was probably his best showing of the season so far.

Speaking after the result, Humphries reminded people he had put together strong showings across his 130-game NBL career.

“I am a basketball player,” he said. “I want to just remind people that, I'm not, you know, all of these things that people just started to create out in the universe.

“I work hard, and I love basketball, and I can play - it's just humming right now.

“We have a great group of guys, we're really homing in on finding joy and the excitement of what we do as a job, and I think it's really obvious out there.

“I feel sometimes it's a bit of a double edged, like backhanded compliment when people are like, ‘Oh, you're playing so well this year’, and it's like, ‘Well, I've played well for a decade'.

“We all have our ups and downs, we all have our ebbs and flows in seasons, and I feel really good this season.”

The humble 211cm big man was full of praise for the 36ers group for helping bring out his best.

“I have a great group around me who's fighting and we're doing all the right stuff.

“I think that's how I'm playing is I'm really locked in, but I think it's also a testament to who's around me and what we're doing, that people don't see.”

On Thursday night Cotton had an equal game-high nine assists, many of them to Humphries.

And the 27-year-old said the connection had come together quicker than he had anticipated it might.

“It has been quick, and I think that's come from communication,” Humphries explained.

“We sit and talk a lot about how we can find each other and what we can do.

“Once I was saying to him, ‘I know where to be, because I've guarded you for so many years and I've guarded you in pick and roll actions for so long, I know on the flip side, exactly where to be offensively’.

“And he said, ‘Well, just as much as you've guarded me, and played against me, I've played against you for that amount of time as well so I know where you're going to be as well’. And we just had that connection from playing against each other.

“And now we get to find that synergy together and it's very exciting. I'm finding out which way he likes to go, which way he likes to pass. We're just connecting in a really, really nice way out there.”

Humphries was just prior to the season starting named as one of Adelaide’s three captains alongside Cotton and DJ Vasiljevic.

It is the first time Humphries has captained a side, and he has leaned on dual sport champion Erin Phillips for guidance.

“I took it upon myself to reach out to her and start building a connection with her and start learning from her,” Humphries said of the AFLW and basketball great.

“We met for coffees and I was just picking her brains on what I can do and how I can move this group forward positively in the culture aspect.

“She gave me so many great things to do and she's been an amazing influence in our group and, you know, weekly catch ups, and check ins, stuff like that.

“It's my first time being in a captain role and I absolutely am leaning on her for advice and help in that space because I want to do the right things for the group. I want to be the best leader I can for our group. And if that means seeking a bit of help and mentorship in that space, then who better than Erin Phillips.

“It's been a pretty cool privilege for me to learn from her in that sort of way.”